Golden Eyes
by funkymoleperson
Summary: Inu Yasha was once again torn between the two women, but this time Kagome did not weep or yell. She was silent, pensive. This time…would be different. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha.**

**Summary: Inu Yasha was once again torn between the two women, but this time Kagome did not weep or yell. She was silent, pensive. This time…would be different. One-shot.**

_Golden Eyes_

The snow was cold against Kagome's bare feet as she leaned against the tree, idly tracing the grooves in its bark with her forefinger. Her scarf was loose around her neck, and her hair wet and unruly. This was no way for her to be fitted on a winter's day, but she hadn't intended to be out long. Even insisted that she needed no one to accompany her, as much has Sango had wanted to. But she had her bow; she could guard herself. And all of Miroku's warnings about her health were of less importance than _him_.

Kagome sometimes wondered if Inu Yasha _ever_ slept while he sat up in the trees when they settled down to camp. Sometimes she would watch him from where she lay in her sleeping bag, one arm loosely around Shippo, looking at the reflection of the moon in the half-demon's eyes while she waited for sleep to come.

When she had first laid eyes upon him, in the forest by the well, Kagome had thought Inu Yasha to be the most beautiful person she had ever seen. But she had soon become familiar with his bad temper and seemingly innate rash behavior. He had drawn her in, and she, in her turn, had recoiled. In the time afterwards, the would-be priestess had also come to know the softness in those golden eyes of his. He was not perfect, yet she had fallen in love with him all the same.

The wind brushed through Kagome's thin clothing and over her bare legs with a flurry of snowflakes. Despite this, the young woman determinedly ignored the searing cold, searching for her half-demon with the golden eyes. She couldn't help thinking, rather wryly, that short skirts at school were one thing, but short skirts in the Feudal Era were perhaps a bit lacking.

It was the undead one, Kikyo, the Kagome spied first, but the familiar flash of red was soon to follow. Inu Yasha, at the least, had the grace to blush. Kikyo said nothing, turning away with her soul-catchers trailing behind her. Kagome watched the other woman leave in silence, eyes cold and hard, before turning her gaze to Inu Yasha. He looked apt to speak, but she did not desire to hear the same excuses as always this day. She turned, and began to walk back to the village, not bothering to see if he followed.

When Kagome returned, she was greeted by noise. Kaede, scolding her for not dressing properly for the weather. Shippo, piping up about how Inu Yasha was such an idiot. Miroku, shaking his head. Sango, looking at her with sympathetic eyes. Kagome took this all in, and walked right back out the door.

She was older now, older and wiser. She knew that she had fallen in love with this golden-eyed boy, but she knew that he wasn't – _truly_ – in love with her. The woman that he saw in her eyes walked in death. Kagome walked in life. And she couldn't spend it all waiting for him.

She was in the village square, with snow falling all around her, looking up at the sky, when he appeared on the path. He had not announced his entrance by any means, but she knew he was there even before Kagome lifted her head. And then gold met gray.

She hadn't quite known what she had intended to do, the would-be priestess. She couldn't simply _leave_. As small a part as the young woman played, she was needed. For the jewel. For her friends. For him.

But she had her own needs. And she couldn't simply sit around while he kicked her heart around. As much as she had hardened, it still hurt to look into his eyes. It still hurt…

Kagome averted her eyes as the footsteps came closer. She could feel Inu Yasha watching her, struggling to find the words to say. Her chest tightened.

"I'll be back in a few days," Kagome finally said. "For now, I'm going home."

"Kagome…" he murmured, golden eyes soft and ashamed and... Kagome's vision blurred. It hurt to look too long.

"Idiot," she snapped, turning away. "Don't say anything I'll regret hearing. Damn you."

She could _feel_ him wince, but he spoke anyway. "You're…coming back, aren't you?"

"I said I would, didn't I?" Kagome's tone was sharp, betraying her anger.

"Well, don't take long. We have to search for the shards…" he replied in the same soft voice.

She whirled, wanting to slap him, or sit him, or both. But he wasn't his usual cocky self. He looked neither indignant nor self-assured. He looked…like silver. Like gold. If ever Kagome had seen anything half as fair…

But she would not melt this time. She loved him, but this was only hurting her. Reaching out to him was only setting herself upward for heartbreak. So when Inu Yasha reached out to her, Kagome recoiled as she had done once before.

"No."

He reached out to her.

"_No_," she repeated, shaking from the cold. "You selfish idiot, _look_ at me."

He reached out to her.

Kagome realized that even now she waited. Even when she had told herself she hadn't been waiting, she had. She had been waiting for those golden eyes to look at her, and _see_ her, and love her. She loved him, and he wouldn't even look at her.

He reached out to her.

She raised her head.

Gold met gray.

And Kagome _saw_.

She _saw_ Inu Yasha looking back at her, _saw_ his face, _saw_ his heartbreakingly golden eyes and realized that she had been afraid to look. Afraid to see him looking through her. But now he was looking right _at_ her, right down to the depths of her heart.

Then he kissed her.

And this time, Kagome didn't recoil.

_Fin._


End file.
